do you have to wash your birds everytime before you mount them if the feathers are clean. after fleshing can you just put on DP and mount it.
Return to Bird Taxidermy Category Menu
I pretty much always wash them. Especially waterfowl, as the dawn detergent helps cut the grease from within the skin. I know some people who don't wash their upland birds. They only perform spot washes, where they wash dirty spots and leave the rest. I don't usually wash turkey and pheasant tails. I just wash the skin and tips of the feathers by dipping in a sopay solution. Then I rinse and dry with a papertowel. Some birds with fragile plumage are better off if you don't wash them at all. Doves and woodcocks come to mind, but there may be others. Hope I've helped. As with most everything else in taxidermy, trial and error provides the best answers.
every bird. I do a number of hawks and owls and just finished a bald eagle, every one of them looked better with a nice wash in Kemal 4; followed by an acetone soak; then a borax 'sand' bath; a comressed air blow out; and a finish up blow dry. All birds have a bit of greasse and fat. If you wash them following your wire wheeling the skin, you can get rid of most of it and your mount will dry nicer and last longer, with less risk of bugs later. The blow dry also allows you to really get the feathers nice and fluffy and makes them easier to groom into position later when finishing your mount.